Date of Award

Fall 12-2007

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Dr. Daniel Tingstrom

Committee Chair Department

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Dr. Heather Sterling-Turner

Committee Member 2 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Dr. Theodore Christ

Committee Member 3 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 4

Dr. Andrea Wesley

Committee Member 4 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 5

Dr. James T. Johnson

Abstract

Consulting psychologists have encountered difficulty with third party acceptance (consultee acting on behalf of the client) of intervention strategies. Research literature suggests that despite substantial intervention effectiveness, interventions may fail because the strategy was not judged acceptable by consumers or participants in treatment. Typically, an analog research design is used to investigate factors influencing ratings of acceptability. That is, various interventions are described and defined. Participants are asked to rate the acceptability of each intervention while considering other factors such as problem severity, time-involvement, training or education of rater, interventionist, use of jargon, and philosophical orientation toward treatment.

The purpose of this study is to extend the literature by exploring how time management training effects the ratings of intervention acceptability. Specifically, the effects of time management training will be analyzed in relation to teachers’ acceptability ratings of reinforcement-based interventions used with a mild problem behavior requiring low and high amounts of teacher time.